Spools



Aug. 4, 1959 M. CURRY 2,898,057

SPOOLS Filed Nov. 18, 1955 INVENTOR. 4 Malcolm Curry film 4:4 M r 4.12 I

ATTORNEYA United States Patent 2,898,057 sroor's Application November 18, 1955, Serial No. 547,762 2 Claims. (Cl. 242-1184) The present invention relates to spools, and has special reference to spools for sewing thread.

Spools for sewing thread have commonly been made of white birch, and to save shipping expense, the spoolturning factories have been generally located close to the birch wood forests. These forests are rapidly giving out and other less satisfactory woods, such as gumwood, are being resorted to. Moreover, wood spools have ceretain disadvantages as hereinafter described.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a spool of the character indicated which may be easily and cheaply molded of a suitable resinous material, and which overcomes the disadvantages of a wood spool while retaining the advantages thereof.

Another of the objects of the invention is to provide a novel and improved spool of this character.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in

the accompanying drawing, in which;

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view of the spool, taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, with one of. the end labels thereof removed;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a similar view, on a reduced scale, of the completed spool;

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the spool when wound and labelled; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to a portion of Fig. l of a modified form.

My improved spool may be made of polystyrene such, for example, as that put out by Dow Chemical Company under the trademark Styron 475. This resin is a high impact polystyrene formulation developed by the manufacturer, but it will be understood that any other resins having suitable characteristics may be employed.

The spool maybe made of the size/commonly used for home sewing thread, but it will be understood that it may be made of any desired size.

As shown in the drawing, the spool is provided with a barrel portion 2 having heads or end flanges 4, and a tubular core 6 arranged centrally axially of the barrel, and a transverse web 8 which integrally connects the barrel and core. The ends of the core are spaced slightly inwardly from the ends of the flanged barrel as shown.

The core has ribs 10 which extend longitudinally from the web 8, and are spaced equal distances apart. Five such ribs are shown but the number of ribs may be varied. The outer ends of the ribs are spaced a slight distance inwardly from the outer ends of the core, and the rib ends are arranged in a plane at right angles to the axis of the core to provide lands or shoulders 12.

The sides of the web 8 may be provided with radially extending ribs 14, that form continuations of the inner end-s of the core ribs 10.

The outer ends of the inner side of the flanged barrel of the spool is enlarged slightly to form label-receiving recesses 16. The inner ends of these recesses form 2,898,057 Patented Aug. 4, 1959 shoulders 18 that are spaced a slight distance outwardly from the plane of the shoulders 12 on the core. To save material, the interior surface of the barrel is recessed at spaced points to interrupt each of the shoulders 18 as shown. This may be done without unduly weakening the barrel as the ends of the barrel are reinforced by their flanges.

Labels 20, which may bear the size, length of thread and other data as customary, are in the form of circular disks that are provided with central apertures 22. These labels are preferably cut from tag stock of approximately 0.010 inch in thickness/s or other relatively stiff paper, plastic or other suitable material.

The diameter of the labels 20 are preferably slightly less than the diameter of the label-receiving recess 16, and the diameter of their apertures 22 are slightly less than the diameter of the ends of the core. With this construction, the labels may be easily inserted in the recesses 16, and the apertures 22 forced tightly over the ends of the core and seated on the lands or shoulders 12, the outer rim of the disk being at the same time seated on the shoulders 18.

Inasmuch as the apertures are of slightly less diameter than the outer diameters of the core as described, the forcing of the labels over the core causes the margins 24 of the apertures to be curled or bent outwardly as shown in Fig. 1. This stiifens the margins materially which with the increased surface contact provided serves to securely hold the labels on the ends of the core.

The spacing of the interrupted shoulders 18 slightly outwardly from the plane of the shoulders on the core, overcomes the tendency of the printed labels to curl, and thus ensures the margins of the labels being firmly seated on the shoulders 18.

It has been found that with the labels thus applied, the press-fitting thereof on the ends of the core firmly holds them in position against the lands or shoulders 12 and 18 on the core and barrel and this is done without the use of adhesive. As the labels are recessed in the ends of the spool, there is no danger of their printed matter being scraped or scuffed on the store counter or. when the thread is being used, which might result in the identification of the thread becoming diflicult to read. Also, the projecting ends of the core permit the spool to be easily slipped into the spindle of a sewing machine, and thus overcomes the inconvenience of the overall label commonly pasted on wood spools which requires punching thereof as it is placed on the spindle which often loosens and displaces the upper ticket resulting in loss of identity of thread size, color, number, etc. Also, by providing a clearance space between the ends of the core and the flat outer sides of the flanges 4, the spool rests entirely on one of the flanges when on the sewing machine spindle.

A slot 23 is cut in one of the flanges 4 for holding the final end of the thread 23 which end may be positioned, by any suitable means, beneath the margin of the adjacent label as the latter is applied to the spool. By thus securing the end of the thread, there is no danger of it working loose by casual handling but may be easily freed for use.

The spools may be 1.162 inches long, and their heads or flanges 1.012 in diameter, which is substantially the size of spools commonly used for home sewing at the present time. For this size of spool, the barrel 2, core 6 and Web 8 may be .025 inch in thickness. The ribs on the core may be .020 inch in thickness, and the labelreceiving shoulders 12 and 18 on the core and barrel may be of an inch in width. The dimensions of the other parts of the spool may be in the proportions shown in the drawings.

The spool is thus made of a minimum amount of material, and yet is adequately strong to effectively resist the strains of winding the spool, and the use thereof on the spindles of sewing machines. The minimum weight of material used, not only reduces the cost of the spools, but also the cost of shipping the spools in large quantities.

The transverse Web 8, reinforced by the axially extencling ribbed core, etfectively reinforces the thin wall of the barrel, and the construction as described is of adequate strength in the small size spool described, to enable the spools to be wound by the engagement of the winding spindles with the ends of the core. In case of the larger spools, the hollow construction enables the winding spindles to enter the ends of the spool and engage the ends of the barrel, thus ensuring stability in winding.

The construction of the spool with the hollow barrel, transverse web, and ribbed core, permits the spool to be easily molded by the injection molding process of minimum thickness of material. It has been found that the plastic material flows readily and evenly to the most remote parts of the mold without cold shuts or other defects occurring. This results in producing more perfect spools and less faulty ones or waste in high speed commercial injection molding. Also, the novel construction permits simplicity of design, cost and operation of the metal cores employed in the molds to form the inner contours of the spool. This results in reduced upkeep costs of the molding equipment, and consequently its usable life.

In case of spools for larger quantities of thread, the form of spool illustrated in Fig. 5 may be employed. With this spool the inner wall 26 of each flanged end may be of substantially greater diameter than the inner diameter of the barrel, and a beveled portion 28 connects this wall to the end of the cylindrical portion of the spool barrel. Shoulders 18' are provided by the outer ends of short parallel ribs 36, the inner ends of which merge into the beveled portions 28. The wall of the barrel of the spool may be made of slightly greater thickness than that of the smaller spool as described to provide greater strength. Also the strength of the barrel may be increased by providing longitudinally extending-ribs thereon.

It will be apparent that this larger flanged spool may be made of a minimum amount of material, and may be easily molded by the injection process.

While to provide maximum strength for the amount of material used, I prefer to form the core with the longitudinally extending ribs as illustrated, the ribs may be dispensed with and the wall of the core thickened for strengthening purposes, with continuous lands or shoulders formed on the ends of the core instead of the interrupted shoulders 18 formed by the ends of the ribs. Such construction likewise lends itself to easy injection mold- It is preferred to only secure the labels on the core while leaving the outer edges of the labels free as de- .4 scribed. This enables any air pressure built up within the spool to escape freely beneath the outer edges of the label. It will be apparent, however, that a similar result may be obtained, by only securing the outer edges of the labels by a press fit or otherwise, leaving the labels unsecured on the core.

This application is a continuation in part of my pending applications Ser. Nos. 483,650, filed January 24, 1955, now abandoned, and Ser. No. 465,325, filed October 28, 1954. 1

What I claim is:

1. A plastic thread spool provided with labeled ends attached thereto without theuse of adhesive comprising an open ended barrel having flanges projecting from the ends thereof to provide label bearing surfaces, a central core coaxially supported within said barrel, a web integrally connecting said barrel and core and positioned midway of the ends of the core whereby said core is supported in said barrel solely by said web, said core being provided with shoulders spaced from the ends thereof, said label bearing surfaces on said barrel being spaced outwardly a slight distance from the plane of the shoulders on said core, and annular disc shaped labels centrally supported on the ends of the core and marginally abutting said shoulders and label bearing surfaces whereby the ends of said barrel are enclosed and the labels are retained in place on the ends of the spool, said labels being press-fitted on the ends of the core.

2. A plastic thread spool provided with labeled ends attached thereto without the use of adhesive comprising an open ended barrel having flanges projecting from the ends thereof to provide label bearing surfaces, a central core coaxially supported within said barrel, a web integrally connecting said barrel and core and positioned midway of the ends of the core whereby said core is supported in said barrel solely by said web, said core having ribs extending longitudinally from said web, the outer ends .of said ribs being spaced from the ends of said core to provide shoulders, said label bearing surfaces on said barrel being spaced outwardly a slight distance from the plane of the shoulders on said core, and annular disc shaped labels centrally supported on the ends of the core and marginally abutting said shoulders and label bearing surfaces whereby the ends of said barrel are enclosed and the labels are retained in place on the ends of the spool, said labels being press-fitted on the ends of the core.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,353,761 Knoche Sept. 21, 1920 1,585,236 Doehler et al. May 18, 1926 2,264,116 Howsam Nov. 25, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 434,062 Great Britain Aug. 26, 1935 275,387 Switzerland May 31, 1951 

